Belting



Aug. 17, 1954 D. E. DE MATTEO 2,686,745

BELTING Filed June 26, 1952 Dmv rs E. 05 M rrza IN V EN TOR.

A TTORNEYS.

Patented Aug 17 1954 BELTIN G Dante E. De Matteo, North Plainfield, N. J., as-

signor to Thielex Plastics Corporation, North PlainfielrLN. J a corporation of New Jersey Application June 26, 1952, Serial No. 295,741

the attractive appearance of woven material,

felt and similar kinds of goods which are ordinarily objectionable because they unduly stretch when tensioned, and. with the belting possessing the stretch resistance and relatively higher tensile strength of more homogeneous materials. Another object is to provide a product having the attractive appearance of woven or fibrous material combined with the physical characteristics of a flexible plastic. Other objects maybe inferred from the following.

A specific example of this invention and its mode of manufacture are illustrated by the accompanying drawings in which: I

Fig. 1, is a perspective view of a piece of the belting;

Fig. 2 is apartially broken away perspective view of equipment suitable for producing the new belting;

Fig. 3 is a perspective View of half of a split die shown by Fig. 2;

Fig. 4 is the other half of the above die; and Fig. 5 is an end view of the split die with its halves assembled.

The belting material shown by Fig. 1 includes a strip I of the woven or fibrous material. This may comprise a fabric made of interwoven strands or threads of wool, cotton, linen, rayon,

acetate, paper, straw, and similar materials.

Such fabrics may be made in a wide variation of visually attractive forms and they have considerable appeal to the garment trade, for example, in connection with the manufacture of belts, suspenders and the like. However, this kind of material has not been considered completely suitable for such purposes because of its tendency to longitudinally stretch excessively with consequent excessive lateral contraction when the material is longitudinally tensioned as it must be to serve as such products. This defeet is inherent with practically all materials made from interwoven strands or threads. In the case of some attractive materials such as felt, the product inherently tends to pull apart when tensioned and, therefore, this kind of mavention, supported both longitudinally and lat- 1 cla m. (V01. 154 s2.1)

erally in such a fashion that a substantialportion of one side of the strip of the material is exposed. This support is provided by a flexible plastic molded on the strip so as to both support it longitudinally and laterally and, inthis connection, also enclosing the edges of the strip of material used primarily for appearance, whereby to seal these edges against possible unraveling or other troubles. The plastic used is flexible and it may be flexible vinyl resin or polystyrene. Practically any of the plastics currently available may be used providing they are flexible in their final form, are capable of being molded, and have the relatively high tensile strength usually associated with modern plastics. Such a plastic when used alone has the disadvantage that its appearance is not very attractive unless provided with a surface pattern, and when this is done the appearance is ordinarily that of an imitation product which is frequently associated with a sense of cheapness.

As shown by Fig. 1 the flexible plastic is molded on the strip I so that it forms a layer 2 on one side of this strip and beads 3 on the other side of the strip. This layer is somewhat wider than the strip itself. The beads 3 are located on this other side, shown as the: top side in Fig. 1, adjacent to and overlapping the strips opposite edges '5, and the beads 3 integrally join with the layer 2 where it projects laterally beyond the edges 4. The beads '3 may have any external contour desired. The beads are laterally spaced so as to leave therebetween a relatively wide longitudinally extending surface portion of the top side of the strip I fully exposed to View. The plastic is molded on the strip I and it penetrates into the interstices of the strands or fibers of the strip I, this including the parts of the plastic. forming the beads 3. In this fashion the plastics physical characteristics are imparted to the strip I while the strips attractive appearance remains substantially unaffected. By using a plastic that contrasts in color with the strip I,

. even greater attractiveness may be effected than 9 which is somewhat wider than the passage 1 and the strip 1. Thus the plastic is molded against one side of the strip l to form the layer 2. The other die half 6 has a corresponding passage [0 through which the plasticized plastic flows to two laterally spaced pockets ll positioned so as to register with and slightly overlap the edges of the strip I. These pockets H are contoured to form the beads 3.

As shown by Fig. 2 the die halves are located between a clamping element I2 having a passage l3 registering with the passages 8 and H]. In practice there will, of course, be another clamping element cooperating with the one shown to clamp the die halves together. The plastic may be heated to plasticize it and it may have the necessary pressure applied to it by any of the currently available kinds of plastic extrusion equipment.

The plastic should be flowed against the appropriate portions of the strip I under enough pressure and in a saufficiently plastic condition a unitary plastic belting while having the attractive appearance of woven materials and the like.

I claim:

Belting including a strip of interwoven flexible strands and flexible plastic molded on said strip and forming a layer on one side of said strip and beads on the other side of said strip and located thereon adjacent to and overlapping said strips opposite edges and integrally joining with said layer, said beads leaving therebetween a longitudinally extending portion of said other side of said strip exposed to view, said plastic 7 penetrating the interstices of the strands of said strip and thus imparting said plastics physical characteristics to said strip, said exposed portion of said strip being free from said plastic.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 233,414 Hays Oct. 19, 1880' 497,778 Estabrook May 23, 1893 1,958,033 Cohn May 8, 1934 2,426,769 Gould Sept. 2, 1947 FOREIGN PATENTS Number Country Date 17,675 Great Britain 1914 

